XN000022-1995-10-25 — Page 14

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Relocation of manufacturing establishments

Following is a question by the Hon Lee Kai-ming and a written reply by the Secretary for Trade and Industry, Mr Chau Tak-hay, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a) whether it has any statistics showing the number of local establishments engaged in manufacturing which have been relocated overseas this year; if so, how many have been relocated to Mainland China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand respectively; and

(b) what specific measures are in place to deal with the problem of relocation of manufacturing establishments and how it will assist the manufacturing sector to sustain development in the territory?

Reply:

Mr President,

The open nature of our economy does not require manufacturing establishments to report their business decisions to the Government. Consequently, there are no statistics available on the number of local factories relocated overseas or to mainland

China.

We see the relocation of more labour-intensive, lower value-added production to lower cost areas in the region as part of a healthy world-wide trend towards increased efficiency in industrial production and globalisation of production, and therefore do not seek to interfere with such market trends.

We believe that the key to sustain the development and competitiveness of Hong Kong's manufacturing industries lies in the application of higher technology and the production of better quality and higher value-added products. The Government takes a number of positive measures to support industrial development in this direction.